E-Hawks Earn Placings At Irgens Invitational

January 24, 2013

IDA?GROVE - Emmetsburg's E-Hawks earned a seventh place finish in the 24-team Herb Irgens Invitational this past weekend at Ida Grove. Coach Jared Pickett's E-Hawks crowned two champions and a runner-up, along with a fourth and eight place finish out of 10 wrestlers competing in the two-day tourney.

At 182, Wellik opened with a :27 win by fall over Zach Hanson of Don Bosco and then pinned Dylan Brockshus of Sibley-Ocheyedan in 3:19. Wellik would earn a 3-1 decision over Taylor James of Akron-Westfield in the semis and then won a 5-4 decision in overtime against Cash Wilcke of Odeboldt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove for the championship.

In action at 195, Austin McCartan tallied a :47 win by fall over Kyle Long of Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire and then scored a 13-2 Major decision win over Blake Sappinfield of Lawton-Bronson. McCartan then earned a 14-4 Major decision over Jacob Letsche of Marcus-Meriden-Cleg- horn in the semis to meet Chet Willer of Akron-Westfield, in the finals, where McCartan claimed the title with an 11-3 Major decision.

Nick Schany opened action at 170 with a 1:28 win by fall over Tom Nahnson of Prairie Valley and then pinned Koltin George of Sergeant Bluff-Luton in 3:34. Schany would earn a 8-5 decision over Mason Montink of Woodbine to move the finals, but the E-Hawk would come up short in a 3-0 decision loss to Jacob Mehan of MMC to settle for second place at 170.

In action at 113 pounds, Brett Steinkamp started out with a 1:26 fall over Dylan Feauto of Carroll and then earned a 4-2 decision over Ben McDaniel of MMC, but in the semis, Steinkamp was pinned in 5:50 by Mitchel Brinkman of Pocahontas Area in 5:50. Steinkamp would wrestle back to score a 1:23 win by fall over Colin Corey of South Central Calhoun, but in the consolation final, Steinkamp would default to Grand Barron of Don Bosco to finish fourth.

Freshman Dillon VanOosbree opened action at 106 pounds with a 4:40 win by fall over Jordan Payne of South Central Calhoun, but was pinned by Spencer of Johnson of Prairie Valley in 5:15 of their match. VanOosbree then scored a 6:37 win by fall in overtime over George Roberts of Spirit Lake Park, but was pinned in :37 by Jake Wulff of OABCIG. VanOosbree would wrestle Kyle Juelsgaard of Audubon and lost a 12-6 decision to finish in eighth place.

Tayler Wegner, wrestling at 220 pounds, opened the tournament with a :09 win by fall over Alex Pichinke of Rock Valley, but was pinned in :24 by Ron Singleton of Lawton-Bronson.

But after blacking out, Wegner would injury default, ending his tournament.

Joey Lowman wrestled at 126 pounds and was pinned in his first match in 1:11 by James Dirkx of Carroll. Lowman would pin J.D. Graeber of Rock Valley in 2:24 and pinned Edgar Ayala of Pocahontas Area in 4:19, but was pinned in 3:02 by Kaleb Vanderpool of Okoboji to end his tournament.

At 132, Chance Saathoff was pinned in 1:13 by Christian Lundy of Cherokee and then eliminated from the tournament when he was pinned in 2:23 by Connor Schoening of Pocahontas Area.

Caige Elbert picked up a 5:38 win by fall over Nathan Kulp of Pocahontas Area in the first round at 138 pounds, but was pinned by Ty Gibson of GTRA in 3:03. Elbert would be eliminated from the tournament when he lost an 8-6 decision to Andy Pitts of Cherokee.

Rounding out the E-Hawk action was Joe Schmidt at 145 pounds. Schmidt was pinned by GT/RA's Tyler Hoffman in 2:33 of the opening round before losing a 13-4 Major decision to Andy Pratt of Kingsley-Pierson to end his tournament appearance.